The present invention relates generally to the field of cotton processing and, more specifically, to stripping petals from cotton balls.
The separation of petals from cotton balls can be a very labor-intensive effort. In order to minimize the effort required to separate petals from cotton balls, cotton separators have been used. Typically, cotton separators use crushers to crush the petals. However, crushing the petals can result in small pieces of petals sticking to the cotton ball. The small pieces of petals that stick to the cotton ball are very difficult to separate from the cotton ball. In addition, it is possible for the small pieces of petal to reach the last stage of a fiber produced from the cotton ball, and the small pieces of petal can ultimately damage the whole fabric.
One of the components used in existing cotton separators are large rollers with a wire mesh around the circumference of the roller. The wire mesh on the rollers is frequently damaged during operation as small stones and hard petals can cause considerable damage to the wire mesh. The damage to the wire mesh results in frequent replacement of the mesh. In some instances the wire mesh has to be replaced every 15 days. The replacement of the wire mesh can be costly and may prevent the further processing of cotton for 3 to 4 days.
Existing cotton separators generally require at least three workers to operate the machine. One worker pours cotton balls encased in petals in the hopper of the cotton separator. Another worker clears away striped petals, and another worker collects stripped cotton balls. In addition, workers collecting stripped petals can be exposed to rotating parts, which can potentially injure the workers.
Existing cotton separators do not remove all of the petals from the cotton balls during processing, necessitating reprocessing of the cotton balls to remove any petals that remain. This reprocessing of cotton balls results in higher production costs.
The present invention relates to an apparatus for stripping petals from cotton balls. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a hopper to store raw cotton balls encased in petals, an impacter to partially open the raw cotton balls and remove some of the petals, a first cleaning mechanism to discard some of the petals that are removed by the impacter, and a cotton separator. The cotton separator includes a first large roller encased in a first mesh material rotating at a first speed to capture the at least partially opened cotton balls, a first net located at a circumferential position adjacent to the first large roller to strip off petals, and a first small roller rotating at a second speed to take the first stripped cotton balls from the first large roller. The second speed of the first small roller is faster than the first speed of the first large roller.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the cotton separator also includes a second large roller encased in the first mesh material rotating at the first speed to capture the first stripped cotton balls, a second net located at a circumferential position adjacent to the second large roller to strip off petals, and a second small roller encased in the second mesh material rotating at the second speed to take the second stripped cotton balls from the second large roller.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the cotton separator also includes a third large roller located below the first large roller and the second large roller The third large roller is encased in the first mesh material rotating at the first speed to capture the first or second stripped cotton balls. The cotton separator further includes a third net located at a circumferential position adjacent to the third large roller to strip off petals, and a third small roller encased in the second mesh material rotating at the second speed to take the second or third stripped cotton balls from the second large roller.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the cotton separator also includes a worm wheel to remove petals from the cotton separator.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the impacter includes a shaft, a plurality of spikes connected to the shaft, the plurality of spikes is connected to the shaft in a worm wheel configuration, and the shaft is supported by a housing.
Finally, in yet another embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus further includes a suction mechanism to both supply raw cotton balls to the impacter and remove impurities from the raw cotton balls.